The Department of Finance urged the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank in March 2008 on the priority of finding investors who would take up shares in Anglo Irish Bank, arising from unwinding of holdings by billionaire Seán Quinn, because of fears for the stability of the bank.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, has told the Dáil,  that he had been briefed about Quinn’s ownership of contracts for difference (CFD) linked to 25 per cent of the bank’s shares when he took up office in May.

Officials said the unwinding of Quinn’s CFD stake was a“serious threat to the stability of the bank”.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen has rejected as a smear, claims that a member of the Government had anything to do with the “golden circle” involved in the €300 million loan for shares deal with Anglo Irish Bank.

The Taoiseach rejected a suggestion from the Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore, that there was anything untoward about the action he took to advise the Revenue Commissioners against imposing a tax on contracts for difference (CFDs) when he was minister for finance in 2006.

Stamp duty is payable on shares whereas contracts for difference are not liable for stamp duty,

CFDs are a facility where a person does not buy shares but effectively gamble on them, by buying an interest in whether they went up or down.

Replying to Fine Gael’s Richard Bruton, Minister Lenihan told the Dáil: “The department had been in communication with the Regulator and the Central Bank to ensure that this matter was unwound as soon as practicable. Beyond that, I was not furnished with any information of a written character about this issue, other than it was a critical issue for the share price of the institution.

“Subsequently, I was advised in late July that a group of investors had invested in Anglo Irish Bank to resolve these problems and that legal advice obtained by the bank indicated that the transaction was compliant,”he said.

Ten investors offered €75 million in security for loans worth €300 million advanced to them by the bank to buy its shares, which are now worthless.

It is not clear if the now nationalised bank plans to pursue payment from the so-called "golden circle."

Both the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Financial Regulator are examining the circumstances surrounding the advances.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern last night supported calls for the 10 investors to be named: “I think it would be preferable if they were named ultimately.”

In the Dáil, Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Brain Lenihan have already said that they do not know the identities of the 10, while other Ministers are reported to have privately said the same.

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan told the Dáil this morning the names of the 10 people. will not be contained in the bank’s annual report due for publication tomorrow.